Protection of natural infection against reinfection with SARS-CoV-2 JN.1 variant

Abstract

Evidence at the level of neutralizing antibodies suggests that the SARS-CoV-2 JN.1 variant demonstrates increased immune evasion compared to its parent lineage BA.2.86 and to recently circulating variants, such as XBB.1.5 and EG.5.1.1 JN.1 has also exhibited a growth advantage over other variants and triggered large SARS-CoV-2 waves in various countries,2 prompting the World Health Organization to classify it as a variant of interest on 19 December 2023.2 We estimated the effectiveness of natural infection in preventing reinfection with JN.1 during a large JN.1 wave in Qatar using the test-negative case-control study design.3,4